


Doppelganger

by Minion_Energon_101



Series: RvB: Shattered Glass [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Shattered Glass, Blood and Gore, Gen, Imprisonment, Loss of Faith, Medical Procedures, Paranoia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reverse universe, Swearing, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 01:58:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15014168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minion_Energon_101/pseuds/Minion_Energon_101
Summary: [Post-Exposure of Hargrove's Plan, pre-Final Fight]In the middle of preparing to attack Felix, Locus, their army, and Hargrove, a stranger ends up randomly inside the underground base. He's bleeding profusely, crawling because his legs are... and he's letting out cries of fear. The Reds and Blues all want to help until they hear him speak.





	1. Bloody Murder

**Author's Note:**

> I went back into Transformers, into it's Shattered Glass Universe and was inspired to do something with it here. Also; if anyone wants to see a series based on this, I might be persuaded to do so!

Lately, the Red's and Blue's, excluding Washington and Carolina because they refuse to start anything today, have had a personal problem within their ranks. Their personal ranks.

"Maybe if those white armor jerks would stop harassing my squad, maybe they would work better." Simmons huffed as he looked out at the damp, dark cave that was their base of operation. 

"Now, Simmons, you can't blame a whole army of men for three mens actions." Donut scolded and placed his hands on his hips. "Besides, I've seen enough of your women punting the guys crotches enough to know you have a squad of anger management wannabes! Do you even punish them for such behaviour?"

"No! No!" Simmons insisted that last part to get his point across he wasn't dealing with Donut's innuendo's today. "My squad keeps getting grabbed at, and their teenage girls, what else would you have them do?"

"Take a complain to 'ah superior?" Sarge suggested almost like an after thought as Tucker scoffed at him. 

Before Tucker could say anything, Grif chimed in as he, too, scoffed. "What? Like you, or Wash? What would you guys do? Smack them on the wrist and make them do laps like last time?"

Sarge started to let out a long strand of curses with Grif's name in the middle when Tucker sucked air through his teeth under his helmet. "Preach! Both sides aren't innocent in this bickering but our guys are teenagers, some are barely above the legal human age to vote. I know three, maybe, that could legally drink."

"So?" Donut gripped out as Tucker finished. "We have teenagers too!"

"That's not the problem Donut." Grif sighed. "It's the fact teenage girls are being harassed by adults of the other army. The only reason we know this is happening is because Jenson came to Simmons shaking."

That caused everyone to pause. When had they gotten here? At first, it was about some sort of strategy that Wash had asked them to talk about, and then it took a turn for the worse into complaining. First it was how Doyle and Kimball treated each other and their armies, then it was how those two angered Wash and Carolina daily with their fighting, then it turned into whose team caused the most anger for the Red's and Blue's themselves and not just Wash, Carolina, Doyle, and Kimball. 

Sarge had said Bitters and Matthews and all of Gold (Orange) team needed a "lead awakening" with his shotgun to do a better job, Grif disagreed harshly, Sarge threatened to turn it on Grif, Simmons complained about Emily Grey experimenting on soldiers and trying to take him apart, Sarge threatened to turn his shotgun on him, Tucker complained about Palomo in general, Donut said the female's were too feisty here and complained to Simmons about his team...

Oh, yeah. They got here because Simmons was defending his all female squad. And it was weirdly causing the team to bicker even longer then necessary, even when their all uncomfortable.

But it's happening, so...

"All we need to do is tell Kimball and Doyle and it'll stop!" Donut cut into the silence, almost too cheerily for the situation. "While I don't condone this behaviour, and I know Wash won't either; Washington and Carolina don't have proper ranks to deal any real punishment. Only Kimball and Doyle."

"Okay, okay, fine..." Sarge said as he opened up his communicator, hushing everyone instantly. "Let's cut the chitchat and tell 'em now then."

"The sooner the better." Simmons griped as he looked around them. His vital signs had all sped up since they talked. He doesn't have a regular beating flesh heart but he does have a stress-o-meter. "I want to have this conversation as much as anyone else does."

"No more!" Tucker whined.

"I'm not happy with this turn of events." Donut huffed almost instantly after Tucker was done talking.

"Thanks to Chorus and responsibilities, our usually funny banter is now ruined by work talk." Grif growled and shook his head. "Why!"

"Te das cuenta de que a su juicio es erróneo. Su todos los capitanes de este ejército. Aquí todo el mundo puede infligir castigos, con la debida motivación." Lopez droned from his place far away from the group and looked at Simmons specifically. { **You do realize that your judgement is flawed. Your all captains of this army. Everyone here can dish out punishments with proper motivation**.}

"Shhhh! Lopez, be quiet!" Sarge picked on Lopez seemingly at random. "I got the dial tone, I'm getting through to Doyle..."

Before Lopez and Simmons could question why Donald Doyle, leader of an army, has a dial tone on his comm system, Sarge's head shot back and his body language screamed that he was startled. And for good reason, too, because they could hear Kimball and Doyle yelling at each other from their own places. And their communicators were off. Finally, when Carolina joined the screaming match, Sarge turned it off.

Sarge slowly turned to the group and clicked his tongue. "Soooooo... Their busy."

"We... kinda heard." Grif said in surprise as he looked at Simmons, Simmons looking at him in return as well.

"That was..." Tucker said as he sighed. "A good enough reason to change the subject for now."

"Sí. Vamos a hablar acerca de su incapacidad para ser líderes." Lopez drowned and drastically moved his head around. He was talking to the room now. { **Yes. Let's talk about your inability to be leaders.**}

 "Lopez, I don't know what rubbing my new rank in Grif's dirtbag face will do for this army except show them I'm better in every way!" Sarge strained his voice to sound happy as he looked at Grif. He was obviously reeling because of what transpired in his helmet.

"It won't do anyone any good, Sarge..." Grif complained and took a step away from Sarge just incase he tried anything.

"'It won't do anyone any good', what?" Sarge taunted and cupped his helmet where his ear could be.

"I'm not calling you 'Sir' anymore! You were MIA!" Grif shouted.

"You called me 'Sir'! Haha!" Sarge triumphed by throwing his hands in the air and shaking his fist at the sky. "Even your useless lump of brain knows I'm your superior!"

Simmons looks at Grif as the orange soldier looks at the ground with a strangled sigh. While Tucker and Donut chuckled at their antics, Simmons knew Grif wasn't missing Sarge enough anymore to blindly enjoy this bickering. Grif had subconsciously been turning into Sarge a while back before the rescue but that wasn't even the problem anymore. Now it seemed like Grif had enough of the bickering and wouldn't mind if Sarge poofed away for a while. But life wasn't that simple.

But life for Church was that simple.

The AI Program Epsilon seemingly popped up in the center of their small circle from nowhere and turned to whoever was closest to him. That being Tucker. "Hey. Hate to ruin this beautiful get-together but we have a problem in the main... cave area, I have no idea what its supposed to be. But... Just... Just come help!"

"Oh?" Tucker said airily and looked at anyone else but Church. "And why not get Wash? I'm a lowly Captain of..."

"Dude. I get it. Your still not entirely happy with me with everything that's gone on but hey, I really need you - all of you \- to come to the entrance of the base." Epsilon informed as he looked around. "I already warned Carolina and Wash so their parties should join as well, be I urge you to hurry. It's getting worse."

"Wait! What's getting worse?!" Tucker yelled but Epsilon already moved on to the next person in his travel to warn people. Tucker looked down and cried out in rage. "Fuck! What's happened now?! A rocket mishap?"

"Well, we won't know unless we move there." Simmons said and started to walk off, Grif following him closely from behind.

Slowly, Donut and Lopez followed after with Sarge looking at the remaining member. Tucker was still staring at the ground and mumbling about getting a break as he followed his teammates into the base. Sarge followed at the back of the group, grumbling something himself.

* * *

"What. The. Hell." Tucker said as he slowly exited the main hangar to come to the cave's entrance. And he regretted it. "Is someone  _torturing_ someone out here?"

"Don't ask us, we're as clueless as you are." Grif said and looked around with everyone. 

The hole in the cave's ceiling that acted as the main way out of this base was bright and untouched in and of itself; meaning they weren't under any kind of attack at the moment. But there was a large pool of blood and it was in the center of the ray of sunshine from above like it was something you, somehow, could miss. There was bloody footprints and a line of blood that indicated a dragging of something from the blood pile. That was what got their attention instantly and they followed the trail.

Which also lead them to the screaming. It was pained, fearful, and even labored. How long had this guy been screaming before they got here? 

When they got to a closed-door, they noticed some guards in front of the door that straightened almost instantly when they came around the corner and Sarge growled as one was using the wall as a perch. These kids obviously weren't good with blood, much less the screams of a victim who was in pure agony. Who assigned two kids as guards anyways?

"You two, leave." Sarge said and both soldiers started to whine about their orders. Sarge held up his hand and told them again. "Leave. That is an order. Get some fresh air."

That prompted the Fed guard on the left to dry heave in his helmet and the female Rebel to look at her door partner and sigh. "We were ordered by Kimball and Doyle themselves to stand here till their ready to visit our... guest. We're here to keep out anyone who might be peeping."

"That guy's scream is enough to drive anyone who doesn't have an order to be here away." Tucker said and looked at the door as a scream was seemingly cut off. Had he died or something in there? That was...

Another yell sounded, this one strained enough to sound like he was holding in his screams. Man... this guy was either tough or didn't know what to do anymore to not feel pain. 

"Well... good news." The Federal guard said as he seemed to swallow whatever was in his mouth to speak. "Your all authorized to go in... except for Captain Caboose, apparently."

"R... Really?" Simmons asked as he looked at the door in question. "In... there? Kimball gave you that order? Seriously?"

"She said you guys had a right to see him. Maybe you can start the questioning process before Kimball and Doyle get here." The female guard said and moaned in disgust as her partner heaved again in his helmet.

"Questioning? Why would we question a man who's screaming bloody murder and probably getting his limbs detached?" Tucker complained as the soldiers ignored him.

"Maybe..." Donut spoke up softly and gained everyone's attention. He looked around to make sure he was getting everyone's attention. "Maybe it's one of the bad guys soldiers? Maybe it's someone working for Hargrove!"

That caused the group to go silent. Donut had a point. Just because the Red's and Blue's were awful at keeping a prisoner doesn't mean these guys are. Kimball had four dead leaders to learn from and Doyle was a decent leader if you forget his lack of spine. Though, you'd never know this army was decently functional with the way the leaders both bicker and squabble like children who can't share.

Suddenly, the female soldier chuckled darkly and gained all the attention on her. "You have no idea who's inside this door, do you?"

* * *

"If you don't stop thrashing, my staff can't help you as I instruct." Dr. Grey said in her unusually sweet tone as she cut away his armors under suit to assess his injured legs. "You're losing more blood then you can afford to with how long this procedure will naturally take."

He let out a wet, gutteral growl as he felt the large medical staff member holding down his chest press down a little harder to emphasis he was going to hold him down with as much force as he wanted to so Grey and the other two medical staff could do their job. To him, it didn't really matter how much blood he lost as long as it was  _over_ because he was absolutely terrible knowing who would come for him soon.

Just because they changed their armor and Dr. Grey was acting sweet doesn't mean anything to him. He wasn't about to be fooled into being tortured again with sweet promises and nice words, Sam hated when he didn't learn from past mistakes. And he wasn't about to make the same mistake again. 

He felt Grey stop cutting as soon as she got to his thighs and pulled down the armor that was obstructing her work. It was absolutely painful to have his armor slowly folded and pulled from his open wounds. The healing unit he had once had gone out long ago when it kept him alive when... when...

_Shit_ ! What was she doing down there?! He let out a long, wet cry that didn't carry any more sounds than it did blood as she used a tool inside his wound. She was humming as she poked around, and the sound and feeling of his inner muscle moving made him want to fall unconscious. Maybe this sickening sweet façade would fall if he  was fixed up enough to utter the words he couldn't at the moment. 

'I won't fall for it again, David!'

Dr. Grey turned to her assistant with the large box of medical supplies and told them a list of supplies she probably needed for his legs. "Tweezers, medi-gel, stitching material and needle, and a numbing agent, please!"

Numbing agent?  _Numbing agent_.  _A numbing agent_ , don't make him laugh. Seriously, please don't. He can barely breath through his mouth as it was, and he didn't feel like swallowing blood. He had been successful enough to only have two bleeding cuts on his gums as well as three on his lip that didn't dribble into his lungs or his helmets waste filter. He wasn't about to have his own blood stored with waste. Even that made his shiver.

Wait, why was he getting a high dosage? Wasn't a sedative also a lethal medicine if you overdosed a patient on it, especially one who was losing blood? He wasn't a doctor, but he knew what he needed to not die because a doctor might be stupid.

This really was a form of torture! Someone managed to convinced Grey to betray her oath to not harm or lollygag at her job.

"Okay, so this is going to be unpleasant." Grey said and he rolled his eyes inside his helmet. "I'm going to fill your wounds with an adhesive based medi-gel to connect some of your muscles that were damaged. I'll first have to pry some of them open with the tweezers, then fill them up. Finally, I'll stick it closed and we'll see if we can move you to med-bay." 

Why was she telling him this, just do it already! But, the universe didn't seem to want Gray to move faster, because she just seemed to stare at him for a longer amount of time then necessary before humming something to herself.

Hey, he wasn't complaining about free health care after what happened at Doyle's base. He wasn't stupid either, and knew whoever had sent  _Grey_ to fix him wanted him alive after all. Maybe it was David, maybe it was Kimball. He hadn't left on good terms with her after Locus...

 _Sam_. Oh my god, Sam. Where was he? He had promised he was right behind him, that they both would make it. Did he leave Sam behind? He wouldn't do that! He would never leave him behind in a place like that! Had Sam _made him_ leave him behind? But why? The army that was banging on the door... Lavernius sneaking up on them... Hearing the gunshots and yells of Sam as he laid there in pain... Why would Sam  _want_ to stay behind there? Did he throw him through the portal to save him? Had Sam done a heroic sacrifice, _again_? Had he been captured? Shit, had  _Felix_ been captured? Grey was here so he was obviously in the armies bases and David was somewhere around here... Had Sam been in good enough condition that David separated them and began torturing him? Was getting Grey to make him scream the torture? Was there a microphone and camera in here?  _Those sick--_!

"Since you asked..." Grey hummed as she was handed a syringe. "This is a very high dosage. I want you to understand it won't knock you out, but it's a very strong sedative. Your tongue might swell, your brain might be fuzzy, and you might be loose-lipped after taking it but at least there won't be pain!"

He let out a long, labored sigh as he watched her as best he could with the staff member on his chest. Loose-lipped, huh? So he was going to be tortured, or questioned at least, soon. They'd probably ask who he was working for and why he won't join their side after all they'd promised him. Again. Like last time. And the time before that.

He was actually real sick of getting asked that stupid question. It really didn't matter how much he was going to hold onto his answer, he just got sick of being tortured for it.

Sam would tell him to stop whining. He'd tell him that a real soldier would understand that being tortured isn't too unlikely. Sam would remind him what they're here for and would say Felix's last name to solidify his trust in him as his partner and leader.

But Felix was alone for all he knew.

So very alone in the enemies base.

She held the needle up in front of her like she was examining the tip and took the plastic cork out of the syringe. She gently pushed the pump to watch a singular, smooth drop fall down the side of the metal tip. She seemed satisfied and wiped it away before pushing his leg to lay flat and felt for a vein. She only pressed once, must have felt something, and stuck him in his leg and emptied the sedative into his leg.

He hissed as it happened and barely felt Grey put a small dot of medi-gel on it to seal it. He heard his ears start to ring and tried to shake his head but it didn't go away. He felt the tweezers touch his hot skin, the cold and sterile surface making goosebumps appear as Grey looked at his skin and back up at him.

"Tell me when you can't feel this pressure anymore." Grey said and laughed as she pushed the tweezers down on his leg ever so slightly. "Then, we can begin."

He didn't reply as he heard a heavy sound of metal scrapping metal and fresh air hit his suit and drove the smell of  _cave_ all over him. He wanted to move but apparently, he really couldn't as his muscles finally retaliated against him for all the strain he's put them through and took the medicines side. He laid there, limp under a nurse holding him down and barely able to see the walking terror staring at him from the doorway.

His brain screamed at him.  _Where's my pistol_?  _Where's my knives_ ,  _I could use one even if I'm utterly garbage at them now_...

"So, she wasn't lying..." Tucker sneered and took a few steps into the dark room, getting his boots dirty with blood but obviously not caring. "Felix. Screaming like a  _bitch_ in his own blood..."

Felix sneered behind his helmet. His tongue really was swelling because his mouth had gone hot, but he was loose-lipped after all when he had a few choice words in mind for Lavernius that he really didn't expect to fly from his mouth so suddenly.

"Take a long walk..." He heaved for air past his busted lips and gums. "Off a short pier, Lavernius..."

"Hey, I'm not the idiot in the enemies base getting my only escape options fixed." Lavernius motioned to his messed up legs. "And hey, maybe you can crawl off the pier in my place, you seem really good at dragging your big head around anyways!"

He would have spit at him if he didn't have him helmet on. So, they sent a _butcher_ to get him to talk about his job? He started to feel grimy from sweat, unsure if it from stress of mind or stress of body, but he knew he'd survive today... He knew he was going to make it. Grey was here. And he was starting to go numb. 

Middle finger to Lavernius. Thumbs up for Felix.

He would have paid attention to what Lavernius had said if a red colored soldier in Mark VI armor hadn't peeked in and walked to the other side of the room and stood behind the medical staff. Sarge too? Man, they must be desperate for him to talk or something... Did Hargrove throw a wrench in their plans?

He started to feel his chest tighten as in walked Franklin. Oh... Okay... Now he knew his sweat might be from fear. Okay. Maybe the sedative wouldn't save him from pain... Okay, okay...

His heart started to beat uncontrollably as they  _just kept filing in_. Dexter, Dick, Lopez... They all stood above him, orange visors blank but obviously waiting for someone to start this thing. They seemed... lost for words, but angry. Oh, he could  _feel_ their anger.

He heard snapping and looked down at Grey's purple visor to see she was holding onto his largest wound with one hand and was getting his attention with the other. She giggled sweetly and drew back to start her procedure. She picked up a tube of medi-gel and started to un-cap it one-handed.

"I think your ready, then. Your blood pressure shot up but your not screaming so..." Grey sucked air through her teeth as she giggled again. "Let's begin, shall we?"

He heard the faintest of clicks and saw Lavernius pull his retracted sword handle from it's place on his hips. He didn't power it up but he gripped it like a life-line. The room, especially Lavernius, was brimming with the feeling of  _trigger finger_. 

He. Was going. To die.


	2. Memories Cause Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix is paranoid and has no clue why they seemed to forget he exists to fight about... if his legs are "cut into ribbons" or "cut like ribbons". What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I have grammar mistakes, it's because I suck at not slowing down as I type. Please tell me, and I'll fix it.

When Tucker had entered the room, he expected to see Felix. He wasn't really disappointed but it just felt off. He _expected_ the asshole with a loud mouth and all the self-preservation in the world to be here; he expected to see steel colored armor with dark orange highlights in front of him. But that wasn't what he got. The man had UNSC Scout armor, just like Felix, but his paint job was wrong. His steel colored armor was more decorative; his under suit being gunmetal grey and the upper pieces of armor that stuck out on his shoulders and chest were black in color. Instead of being a dark orange highlight across his armor, he was a light blue, maybe even  _sky blue_ if you wanted to be picky. His visor wasn't a dead gray color, but was a dark shade of... yellow and blue? That was strange, but he couldn't deny what he was looking at. Felix. He expected to see... _something_ Felix like, since that was who they captured, but he can't exactly say much about knowing how Felix acted when injured. He's never seen Felix wounded and stuck in a corner before. But I guess, now he has.

When he was standing in his spot, fidgeting his sword, he could see the man's attitude all over his body language. He was firm, and there was an hint of fear. He... can't say he was expecting that but he'd be lying; he didn't know what to expect, really. He just expected an air of Felix. Confidence, swagger, murder, creepiness, sass, and a silver-tongue to boot. He wanted to feel no remorse if he paid Felix back for stabbing him in their last fight.

"Take a long walk..." He heaved for air past his busted lips and gums. "Off a short pier, Lavernius..."

The man's voice, the voice that seemed to rub Tucker the wrong way everytime it appeared in his head to mock him, was most certainly what this man sounded like. It was the visual and auditory confirmation that they needed to know who they have in this small empty hangar at their mercy. 

His fingers rubbed against the metal of his sword handle ( _bow-chicka-wow-wow_ ) as he stood to the immediate left of Felix just in case he needed to bash his head against something. 

Dr. Grey pulled his leg wound open just a little bit to start administrating the medi-gel in his leg. She got a long moan of discomfort and told him sweetly, "You can't feel pain, but I know this must be foreign for you. Trust me, it'll be over soon... Hopefully."

That got her another moan, but this one more in the back of his throat. Felix couldn't feel pain? That was  _way_ too good for the likes of him. He was a killer, he was a murderer, a liar, and a backstabber. Did he mention Felix was also a sociopath?

"Hopefully not too soon, we got some catching up to do." Tucker hissed and bounced his weapon in his hand, antsy.

Dr. Grey seemed to ruin his bold statement with her matter-of-factly tone. "He's already lost enough blood to make a grown man feint, I think I should work diligently or we'll lose him."

Tucker seemed taken aback with Grey's comment. He lost his menacing tone to look at her and stumble over his words. "No... I... I mean..." He sighed. "I can never be cool with you people around. You always ruin my cred."

" _What_ cred?" Simmons complained and looked at Tucker. "The coolest thing you've done in the last year other then join a civil war  _with us_ , is have a squadron of soldiers  _like the rest of us_."

"So technically, we all ruin each other's style since we're all doing the exact same thing." Grif said almost exactly when Simmons ended his sentences. He turned to Tucker as well before gesturing to everyone in the room. "Congrats, you're a star. A great, big star."

"Hey, fuck you, at least I was the first one to actually get out into the field. At least I was trained enough Kimball let me out of basic." Tucker said and looked at Simmons and Grif both. "So, checkmate!"

"You two had a whole squadron under yer command and never got pass  _basics_?!" Sarge yelled and gestured at the two with his shotgun. "Simmons, I expected more from you, especially with how much leg strength your ladies have! Grif...!"

Sarge's sentence died off there, making everyone turn to the orange soldier who looked at everyone in return. He shrugged his shoulders at everyone as Sarge seemed like he was struggling with what he wanted to say.

"I'm trying so hard to pick a new flaw that I haven't pointed out yet but I can't seem to do it!" Sarge cried. "Your flaws are so obvious, I can't find anymore then I already have!"

Everyone went silent for a second as Sarge had an insult existential crisis. Grif turned to Simmons and Simmons shook his head to tell Grif to just leave their superior be. Donut seemed like he wanted to say something be kept his words to himself in the end. Lopez wished he had eyes to roll. Tucker grew awkward as the serious moment set in once again and he let the others drag him into bickering in front of Felix, again. Felix was going to have a field-day mocking him for still having a disorganized team...

Tucker turned on Felix -- who was still laying silently on the floor, might I add -- and the mercenary on the floor wasn't moving an inch. He looking pretty thoroughly pinned down with how lax he was compared to the guy holding him. He meet Tucker visor to visor when he turned to him, almost like he was waiting for him the whole time to turn his attention back to him.

Tucker lowered his voice again to sound more intimidating. "Why did you come here?"

Felix's head barely moved and that was to shift his helmet for something or another. His noisy breathing stopped for a second as he started to speak. "Teleporter mishap, I suppose..." He paused for a second but continued before Tucker could start talking again. "And I came alone."

Felix added on that last part to see if Lavernius will throw him a bone... a _figurative_ bone and tell him if Sam is here. They seem out of sync today and that just meant Felix at to tug at some strings until they eventually let something slip. Dexter was allowing Sarge to insult him, which either meant Dexter was feeling playful today or he was genuinely in too good a mood for it to be ruined. That didn't bode well for this meeting, not at all.

"Well, that's good to know." Lavernius scoffed at him and looked at his legs. "Obviously not alone wherever you were, because you look like shit."

Wait, was Lavernius taunting him? He had to be, because he should remember fondly what happened to his legs. It made his blood boil to be played with like this but he held himself back, now wasn't the time for Felix's temper to just fly him into being tortured faster. He took a beep breath to gain back some oxygen from holding his breath when Lavernius made that comment.

"Trust me, I plan to get better." Felix threw back. At least he knew Sam was safe from this place. "And we'll see about putting my legs to good use when I'm up and about."

The threat didn't go unchallenged. Tucker threw his head backwards to snicker before looking down at him. "And do you think we'd be so stupid as to just let you walk around freely? After what you did and said?"

"It's Kimball's fault and you know it, everyone does." Felix hissed. "She should have know better..."

There was a click and a mechanical whirring before a loud  _pssssssht_. Felix stared up at Lavernius as his sword buzzed to life. Okay, he could understand the armor changes in a way. Maybe they wanted to go unnoticed if they rejoin any type of normal life with the UNSC or maybe their old armor was destroyed in their attack on Locus and Felix's old turf. He didn't know, but armor can be swapped out at any time. But  _not Lavernius'_ sword. You don't just change out the alien sword that has bonded to your blood and soul like a piece of armor.

Something was off...

 _Maybe his head if he wasn't careful_. Lavernius might have pulled a new sword, but a sword nonetheless on him.

"You know everything that happened was your fault! You and Locus!" Tucker yelled at stared down the man. "You messed with these people's lives, you caused so much damage!"

"Don't pin that on me!" Felix yelled. He won't stand for being blamed for the aqua soldier's failings. "If you hadn't come to Chorus, everything would have been perfect!"

"Perfect for you and your damn hirer, maybe, but not these people!" Tucker was full blown raging. Why was Felix not confidently taking up for himself? Felix always rubbed Tucker's face in stuff. "They don't need you now and they didn't need you back then, you just thought it'd be fun to  _toy with their lives_!"

" _Fuck you_!" The downed mercenary finally yelled back. He tried to quell his temper, tell himself that this is what the butcher wants. It didn't work, because he didn't care. "I'm not listening to your fucking guilt trip while you couldn't even lead these men to victory! At least I tried to do good here, in my time!"

"'Good'?! You got a pretty messed up way of 'good', Felix." That caused Tucker to laugh. "Your a  _murderer_!"

" _Look who's talking, asshole_!" Felix yelled and laid down against the dusty floor. His ears were ringing from how angry he was, and he didn't know where any of his strength had come from. He felt numb of any feeling that might have been painful or strong. So he let his vocal cords rest, because they tingled profusely.

Tucker was seething, and he felt like he was about to pop. The shouting match hadn't made him drop his sword or made his revenge quota any less important to him. But this was an injured prisoner and Tucker knew the consequences of letting his anger go wild enough to let him harm others. He held back to calm down a bit. He breathed silently and counted in his head... In, out, in, out...

There was an awkward cough to his left and Tucker turned his head to the floor, anger turning to humility.

He forgot he wasn't alone. 

"So..." Simmons dragged out his word to emphasis the situations shifted tone. 

"'So', what?" Tucker asked as he turned to Simmons. "We're here to interrogate him, so I'm doing my job."

"That's not interrogating!" Simmons complained.

"Yeah, that was bickering!" Grif said hysterically. It seemed the energy of that fighting duo added to the fire that was already burning today. "You just insulted each other back and forth, blaming each other!"

"At least I got information!" Tucker defended himself. "He came alone, and through a portal. It's more then you have."

"I think I can get information out of him. Just like you did." Grif said and turned to Felix. "I mean, it can't be hard."

"Trust me, he's an asshole and a murderer, he's not just going to answer you like you want him to." Tucker said, fidgeting with his sword again.

Simmons made a humming noise of indecision and shook his head. "Well, Tucker, your questions were easy and he answered them almost immediately. Have you thought, maybe, he was lying?"

That made the room go quiet. Grif and Simmons turned on Tucker and noticed the aqua soldiers silence. Maybe they were right, maybe they were wrong. But Tucker hadn't thought of the possibility that he might have gotten a lie. 

Tucker blames his anger on this one. Not his inability to interrogate. 

Grif turns on Felix again and takes the sight in of the mercenary as a whole. Held down, beaten up armor, not bleeding anymore but still bloody, and getting stitches from Doctor Emily Grey. He looked occupied with something, he wasn't trying to gain attention back to himself whatsoever and just lied there.

"Maybe he was lying, maybe he wasn't." Tucker seemed more bashful, his voice wavering. "If his story doesn't add up, we'll know if he lied."

"That is far too complicated!" Sarge spoke up suddenly. "We're here now, let's shoot him now!"

"What?!" Felix asked in shock. He was getting fixed up only to get shot?!

"No!" Tucker cried as Sarge cocked his shotgun. "We need to question him, not kill him!"

"And Grey has already used medical supplies on him, we can't let it go to waste and find out nothing." Simmons backed up Tucker.

"But it's too stupid!" Sarge whined. "Seafoam over there is wasting our time and wrongfully so!"

" _I'm aqua_!" 

"Oh, drama!" Donut sang. He wasn't excited about the shouting and toxic energy, but at least no one was taking shots at personal things.

"Nunca vamos a obtener respuestas." Lopez droned, not really shocked anymore. { **We're never going to get answers.** }

This went on for a while. Felix just watched them and thought about what should be happening but wasn't. He was supposed to be stepped on, kicked, smacked around, and all those non-lethal tactics Sarge loved so much. Sarge had threatened to shot him, which was so out of left-field that Felix had been shaken enough to speak up. Sarge never threatened violence, if anything he was the least violent person he knew on the team.

Felix watched as they bickered and fought, going back and forth about important things and things that should be settled elsewhere. It was so disorganized it made Felix feel awkward, like he shouldn't be seeing this. It felt like he was watching a married couple fight themselves and fighting another married couple who were arguing at each other as well. Weird...

But it was all he had to do. He didn't want to really talk to them -- if anything, he wanted them to leave him alone -- so he stayed silent.

It went back and forth and to the left in here. Tucker, Simmons, Tucker, Simmons, Donut, Sarge, Donut, Simmons, Tucker, Lopez, Sarge, Tucker...

And all about different things. Who was doing their job correctly, who was doing their job wrong, who wasn't doing anything, insulting each other, Lavernius calling himself  _aqua_ again, complaining about inaction, insulting Felix by talking about him while he's in the room, talking about his injuries, talking about Felix's armor, et cetera...

Finally, before he snapped, they started to complain again. This time about a turn-of-phrase.

"If you can't use it correctly, then don't use it." Simmons whined. This was the third time he had corrected Tucker since getting in here.

"I used it correctly!" Tucker countered and huffed. Was he sick of this? Yes.

"It's  _cut into ribbons_ , not  _cut like ribbons_." Simmons said again, insisting his point.

"I would like to disagree with you Simmons." Donut said sweetly.

"No, I'm right." The maroon soldier said.

" _No_." Tucker said. " _I'm right_."

"I... don't think so, Blue." The old, red soldier countered.

" _Bullshit_!"

Felix felt his blood pressure shoot up. What. The. Hell. Was even happening anymore? He's never been so angry, so stressed in a long time. Felix usually doesn't feel angry, he's always been so good at keeping calm. Sam's always managed to be the best company he's ever had... never making him angry, calming him down...

" _Shut up_ , please!" Felix yelled over top of them, his voice full of emotions he didn't know he could vocalize. They all looked at him in shock or whatever expression they held under their visors. But, clearly, they hadn't expected him to talk. "I am not sure what has gotten into you all, but I will not let it go any further. You all are...  _weird_! I know your trying to get answers out of me, but, please,  _stop_ doing  _this_! Hit me, kick me, cut me like you did before...!" He looked at Lavernius and instantly his heart started beating in his ears. He was... He was... "But stop this... I can't... I  _can't_..."

He didn't know his voice was slowly dying down the entire time he was talking. He couldn't see their faces, and they couldn't see his but he knew that everyone in the room was as shocked as he was. Most definitely not for the same reason as him, but they obviously were shocked.

But he couldn't care less right now. He got too worked up, he needed air... He needed space... He needed Loc...

The medicine that Grey had administered stopped him from feeling pain but that didn't stop him from feeling the pressure in his chest. The pressure in his lungs. The pressure...

His face was hot, his helmet kicked on his fans and he immediately knew he was having another attack...

He took one look at Lavernius; visor dead staring at him, still holding his sword; and let out a deep throated noise. He could barely feel himself shaking like an earthquake...

_The sword. A crushing weight. Locus' pistol going off. The telemat sparking because a sword cut into it. Locus yelling for him to crawl or they both die, dammit. Felix trying to find Locus past blinding pain... Suddenly being shoved into a green vortex..._

_Sword... Sword... Sword..._

* * *

 "What's happening?!" Grif asked Grey, who was long done with his legs but still at Felix's feet.

"I believe we're witnessing," Emily Grey said that like she was deciding what clothes to wear to go out. She giggled, then answered them. "A panic attack."

As the group began to wonder how they should react to this situation, the large nurse holding Felix turned into the large nurse that was holding Felix. The second nurse got a portable, manual air pump and walked side-by-side with the larger nurse as they left. As the nurses left with the convulsing patient, the men standing guard could be heard groaning and asking where they were going with the intruder.

"I better follow them, they can barely patch up a bullet right now with our supplies, so I can't stay and chat about what might have happened." Doctor Grey said and walked to the open door. Before she left, she threw one last thing over her shoulder. "And you boys sure are a handful. I hope dear Kimball and Doyle don't pop a gasket as well!"

And, she left. She informed the guards that the intruder was in need of serious medical treatment and needed to be moved to the med-bay. The female guard gave a reluctant okay sign and turned around to probably inform Kimball what happened with the prisoner and where he was moved to.

 The Reds and Blues were left there, speechless as everyone moved on to the next hurdle of the situation.

Grif nudged Simmons but the cyborg was too preoccupied with staring at the empty doorway. He got a harder nudge, and a harder nudge until Grif eventually pulled at Simmons' closest arm to draw him closer. The full body jerk got Simmons attention and caused the maroon soldier to stutter as he caught himself before he fell into Grif.

As soon as he righted himself, Simmons hissed. "Grif, what is it?"

"I know I'm not usually the one who pays attention to things, and all that..." Grif said and looked straight into Simmons visor. "But did you see Felix's legs, they were..." Grif seemed to trail off, like he couldn't recall what he saw.

"His legs were bleeding and sown up, that's all I could remember." Simmons rushed. "Grif, if it isn't important..."

"Sus heridas eran de emisión de verde y negro de humo. Tal vez todos ustedes deben dejar de luchar y en realidad... no importa, yo termine de hablar." Lopez shook his head and walked out the doorway. { **His wounds were emitting a green and black smoke. Maybe you all should stop fighting and actually... Nevermind, I'm done talking.** }

As the robot left, Grif turned his head to the ground to think on it. His legs had done something, something weird... What had he saw?

Grif didn't have time to think much on it, because as soon as Simmons ripped himself from Grif's grip, Washington walked through the door.

The black and yellow soldier slowly sauntered into the room with an air of... disappointment. His shoulders were tense but nothing about him screamed anger. 

"Wash." Tucker said and put away his sword. He looked at his mentor in the visor and held his stare. "I..."

Tucker's voice cut out. He was speechless.

And rightfully so. Wash was not a man who could be disappointed easily. During repeated failures fighting with the Blues and Reds, he's only ever been shocked, angry, and/or amazed at a new way they could mess up. But he's never been disappointed at them.

"Well," Washington sounded grim. "We'll now have to use more medical supplies to keep him alive. And that will postpone the interrogation... Kimball has already pulled a gasket and is very upset we'll be behind our enemy by the time Felix heals..."

Tucker looked down and the room stayed quiet for a few seconds before Washington sighed. He took a step towards Tucker when someone let out an audible gasp. He paused in his movement and turned to look at Grif who had Simmons by the arm again, shaking the shy soldier.

"Smoking!" Grif suddenly shouts and turns on Simmons. "His legs were smoking!"

That quieted everyone, changing the mood of the room. When had that ever been a conversation topic? Simmons grew nervous as Sarge turned on him for any context. 

Donut seemed too happy as he replied, "I could have told you that!"


End file.
